Lingua Franca is a blog dedicated to promote traditional family values and share information about technology, photography, literature, humor and other social issues.

Archive for October 6th, 2008

A man staggered into a hospital with a concussion, multiple bruises, two black eyes, and a five iron golf club wrapped tightly around His throat. Naturally the doctor asked him, “What in the world happened to you?”

—”Well Doc, I was having a quiet round of golf with my wife, when at a difficult hole, we both sliced our balls into a cow pasture. We went to look for them and while I was looking around I noticed one of the cows had something white at it’s rear end.

I walked over, lifted it’s tail, and sure enough, there was a golf ball with my wife’s monogram on it—stuck right in the middle of the cow’s butt.”

Still holding the cow’s tail up, I yelled to my wife, ”Hey honey, this looks like yours! “

”I don’t remember much after that, only my wife frantically yelling and running in my direction, with a golf club in her hand.”

Artist illustration of a building that would be the tallest skyscraper on Earth. (Credit: Telegraph.co.uk.)

For many years, New York City boasted as having the highest skyline in the world. That was true, until Dubai started a trend of building huge buildings. I would say, Dubai is now the country having the tallest buildings in the world.

Dubai’s ruling authorities are determined to transform Dubai City into a strong tourist attraction in the Middle East, by constructing the most beautiful and tallest buildings anywhere. Structures like the Burj Al Arab, Burj Dubai and the Dubai Opera House and Cultural Center are typical examples of the construction boom in the small emirate located along the southern coast of the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Peninsula.

Another mega project known as Nakheel Harbor & Tower Development was recently announced by Nakheel, the company that created man-made islands in the shapes of a palm tree and the world off the coast of Dubai. They plan to build what could become the world’s tallest tower of more than one kilometer high. That’s more than 3,281 feets high. Just thinking about this height makes me dizzy.

State-owned Dubai developer Nakheel would not comment on the exact height or cost of the Islamic design-inspired Nakheel Tower. However, holding company Dubai World President, Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, said the entire project would cost about 140 UAE dirhams Billion ($38.12 Billion). The building will have “more than 200 floors” and be part of “a multi-billion pound development”, the company said.

“Speaking at a press conference yesterday, a cautious Nakheel chief executive officer, Christopher O’Donnell, said: ‘From our perspective, we are building a tower that’s going to be over a kilometer in height. This is a complete iconic development. It may be the tallest.'”

The tower and harbor project will take more than 10 years to complete. Apart from the landmark structure, there will be another 40 towers, ranging in height from 20 floors to 90 floors. The entire development will be home to more than 55,000 people and a workplace for more than 45,000.

Competition for the title of world’s tallest tower is heating up in the Gulf region as real estate developers benefit from a more than four-fold increase in oil prices.

Kingdom Holding Company, controlled by Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, is planning to unveil the designs for a mile-high (5,280 feet) tower in Jeddah this month, according to the London-based Middle East Economic Digest. Kuwait has said the Burj Mubarak in its City of Silk development will also be more than 1 kilometer high.